Blog frequency = Work Stress barometer

A good barometer of workplace stress and overtime not compensated for is my blogging frequency. So clearly, this summer has breached previous stress crests and has left my loyal blog readers peeved. When you start thinking of your next move daily, then you know that work has stopped being fun. Honestly things are not that bad but it’s nice to vent every now and then :) My life has basically been subsisting on airport, hotel and lounge food for the last couple of months. You know that you have too long in one city when you start recognizing taxi drivers (especially the ones who have fleeced you) and start avoiding their fares. Hopefully my KL commute will come to an end by the end of August else Priya will be looking for a lawyer. On a more pleasant note, my in-laws (the Botswanians and the Americans) are at home. We took a few days to go to Northern Italy to do some sightseeing and wine tasting. We camped near Vicenza at a beautiful villa on a hillside overlooking hectares of vines and were treated to the great delights of Riju’s cooking and FIL’s war stories. Northern Italians seemed very warm and their sing song language extremely seducing, their damselles were equally appetizing. We did a lightning trip to Venice, almost died from dehydration but hit all the ‘Patel Points’. The food was ‘not bad’, my staple diet was Lasagna. We did not encounter anything spectacular though that could also because we got snared in the tourist traps inspite of a concerted effort to avoid them. Did not indulge too much in the sweet stuff, though the little we had was nice. Pastas were good but not very different from what we get in Munich however coffee was consistently great. Most of the house wine was very drinkable. We went to Pieriboni Vineyard which was recommended to us by our guide, got a tour of the vineyard. The wine turned out to be excellent and easy on the wallet. Pictures should be up soon. More on the family visit in my next post as I am typing this while waiting for my flight to KL (where else right?). Flight is delayed because they cannot fill the fuel tank! Should I be worried, but then again I am flying KLM so there is cause for concern :)